Planning specialist dismisses attempts to limit fast-food restaurants

Beau Donelly and Henrietta Cook

A move to stop drive-through restaurants from setting up shop in the Yarra Ranges is a ''very weak charade of a control'' that will do nothing to deter fast food chains, a planning expert says.

RMIT planning professor Michael Buxton said changes to the council's planning controls that came into effect this week would not give locals any more power when fighting fast food companies.

''It's the weakest imaginable form of control,'' he said. ''It really is condemning residents to more fruitless agitation. It's not really protecting townships.''

Yarra Ranges Shire Council became the first Victorian municipality to ''discourage'' drive-throughs after Planning Minister Matthew Guy gave the council's bid to block new car-friendly restaurants the tick of approval.

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It follows a long-running battle over a controversial McDonald's restaurant in Tecoma, which opened last week. In 2011 the council voted unanimously against the fast food giant's proposal to open a restaurant on the main street. But McDonald's successfully appealed the decision in VCAT.

While the Yarra Ranges decision is a Victorian first, local governments interstate have previously used planning laws to stop the spread of fast food restaurants.

In 2003 the Blue Mountains Council changed its planning laws to prohibit fast food chains from setting up outside the Katoomba and Springwood shopping centres. In 1988 Byron Bay Council decided to ban drive-through restaurants.

Garry Muratore, spokesman for No McDonald's in the Dandenong Ranges, said the council's amendment gave clarity to local planning laws and was a ''big win'' for locals.

''It's going to put it back in favour of the council and the community,'' he said. ''This means fast food restaurants are going to be discouraged. If they want to move into the Dandenong Ranges, they're going to have to fit in with the streetscape and that's going to mean that drive-throughs are near impossible.''

Asked if he was concerned that the change fell short of prohibiting drive-throughs, Mr Muratore said he was confident it would have a deterrent effect on fast food companies. ''I think it will deter them almost 100 per cent,'' he said. ''The [McDonald's] campaign has hurt their sales and their image. I don't think they would do that again.''

Mr Guy said on Monday that the council's amendment would make it ''much more difficult for fast food chains to set up drive-throughs in the area''.

But Professor Buxton said the change was being wrongly billed as a ''magic bullet''. ''It's not going to control anything to do with a [fast food] restaurant,'' he said. ''There will still be battles at VCAT and the council will still probably lose. You could still have a McDonald's.''

Professor Buxton said he expected other councils to follow the Yarra Ranges, but that any similar move would not do enough to discourage fast food companies.

A McDonald's spokeswoman said the company always worked within regulations and was focused on providing employment opportunities for the community. ''We work with local councils on all of our restaurant developments so they are purpose-built for individual communities.''